Now wait a minute! Is there innuendo flying around here that the rating agencies are playing politics? How ridiculous is that!!?? We know that the rating agencies are sacrosanct and take their responsibility to be objective, very, very seriously. The thought that any one of them would do something with a hidden political agenda, or to actually sway the markets - that just cannot be.

You all should remember, we did away with the bad, unscrupulous rating agencies after their nefarious deeds came to light in the 2008 meltdown. I have so put those rating agencies out of my mind, I can't even remember their names. But our current rating agencies are purely and pristinely objective, able to withstand scrutiny of the most intense variety.

After all, this is America, ladies and gentlemen!!